Def Leppard, Ozzy Osbourne, more honor AC/DC's Malcolm Young

Nick Romano
Updated
Def Leppard, Ozzy Osbourne, more honor AC/DC's Malcolm Young

Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, Eddie Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, and Ryan Adams were among the members of the music industry honoring Malcolm Young, the AC/DC guitarist who died at the age of 64.

“I’m sad to hear of the passing of Malcolm Young. It was great to get the opportunity to open for AC/DC on the Highway To Hell tour & we certainly learned a thing or two,” Elliott wrote in a statement published to Def Leppard’s social media accounts. “He was an incredible guitar player & the glue for the band onstage & off.”

Van Halen called Saturday, the day AC/DC announced Young’s death, “a sad day in rock and roll.”

“Malcolm Young was my friend and the heart and soul of AC/DC,” he continued. “I had some of the best times of my life with him on our 1984 European tour. He will be missed and my deepest condolences to his family, bandmates and friends.”

“With enormous dedication and commitment he was the driving force behind the band,” a statement from AC/DC read. “As a guitarist, songwriter, and visionary he was a perfectionist and a unique man. He always stuck to his guns and did and said exactly what he wanted.”

Young and his brother, Angus, founded AC/DC in Australia in 1973. Young later announced his departure from the band in 2014 due to health reasons that were later revealed to be dementia.

Adams called Young “the engine that roared behind the most powerful band in the world.”

“So sad to learn of the passing of yet another friend, Malcolm Young,” Osbourne tweeted. “He will be sadly missed.”

See more tributes to Young below, including ones from Slash, film directors Edgar Wright (Baby Driver) and James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2), and KISS member Paul Stanley.

This is a monumentally sad day in Rock n Roll. RIP #MalcomYoung Take a moment of silence in his memory.

A post shared by Slash (@slash) on Nov 18, 2017 at 8:35am PST